conversations

“The overall purpose of human communication is - or should be - reconciliation. It should ultimately serve to lower or remove the walls of misunderstanding which unduly separate us human beings, one from another.” ― M. Scott Peck

On a bright and sunny June morning, Musqueam drummers and singers clad in traditional clothing led members of MoveUP’s executive council into the Musqueam Community Centre gym to take part in a reconciliation healing circle.

The impacts of colonization and residential schools have deeply harmed Canada’s indigenous people. First Nations children were torn away from their parents and forced to abandon their cultures and languages in residential schools. Many were abused mentally, physically and sexually.

To address this, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission began in 2008 and concluded in 2015. As part of their work, the TRC issued a report asking, among other things, for all Canadians engage in the reconciliation process with First Nations in order to heal and to move forward together.

MoveUP’s executive councillors decided to take part in a reconciliation circle to take on that work. It was a day of listening, learning and charting concrete, collaborative actions to build that future. They were joined in this work by Musqueam elders and facilitators from the Bright New Day Reconciliation Circles educational group.

In the large circle Nuu-chah-nulth Elder and counselor Barney Williams told his story. He was just five years old in 1944 when he was taken from his family and put in a residential school. “I didn’t know how to speak English, and I wasn’t aware that I couldn’t.” Williams was punished for speaking Nuu-chah-nulth by the same priest who would later sexually abuse him. He lived in that residential school for 13 years.

After spending the morning together in a large circle that spanned the width of the gym, councillors were broken out into smaller circles for the afternoon. Each circle included an elder and a facilitator. Everyone was encouraged to share, break down barriers, confront preconceived ideas and learn from each other.

The experience touched many of MoveUP’s councillors deeply. For several councillors, this was their first time learning about residential schools and the treatment of First Nations children.

“I learned that one of the main goals of the schools was to wipe out the indigenous culture through fear and abuse,” said ICBC Councillor Tobin Dirk. “I never really knew much about the residential schools. I wish I had known about the long-term and generational affects these schools had on indigenous people and their cultures.”

Not all of what was shared was centred on pain. In a smaller circle, Elder Mervyn Point asked the participants to “kwa hook-ah shwallowen*”, a Musqueam term that means “open your hearts and accept what you hear”. Point spoke to his circle about Musqueam traditions and history. He explained the Musqueam way of always referring to someone as “musteemah*” (proud people), meant that they were taught to speak to anyone as though that person came from a very proud and honorable lineage. He also shared some Musqueam oral history, including the names of places that we now call Vancouver, Surrey and the Lower Mainland.

When asked why unions should participate in reconciliation events, Dirk said, “The values that unions stand for, such as equality and equal opportunity should be enough reason…as a union activist I should recognize it, speak out and fight for change when our values are being violated.”

FortisBC Councillor Lea McNaughton agreed. “We need to become activists on this issue, and help other unions understand these struggles. We can join together to make a difference for future generations to be more open and educated than we are.”

“Really, the purpose of the circle was to strengthen us, collectively as a society, which I think is also the purpose of a union,” said Brody Darough-Hardekopf, also from ICBC. “Learning where others came from and what they went through helps us work together.”

“This is not an aboriginal problem,” explained MoveUP Executive Board Member Joyce Galuska. “This is a historical Canadian problem, whose history has been kept from most people for far too long. And as ugly a piece of history it is, the story needs to be revealed. Not just every union needs to take part in a reconciliation circle, every Canadian should take part. It’s the first and most important step towards true reconciliation.”

On March 7 and 8 over 90 individuals representing 45 front line agencies came together at the Musqueam Community Centre for the Urban Aboriginal/Bright New Day Reconciliation Circle.

The two-day dialogue involved a diverse group of participants who were roughly half Aboriginal and non-aboriginal and included: Aboriginal and community service agencies, neighbourhood houses, faith organizations, the City of Vancouver, the provincial government, educational institutions, and the corporate sector along with the Vancouver Police Department and RCMP.

The event was an important opportunity to build bridges and increase dialogue between individuals and organizations that regularly interact with the urban Aboriginal community. Many participants expressed what a rare and significant opportunity it was to have the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development, Vancouver Police and RCMP present.

The dialogue left a lasting impact for many. In the words of one participant “I attended the event and found it to be an extraordinary and life changing occurrence”.

Approximately 20 people gathered at Tla’amin Community Health last month to hear information about an upcoming workshop that will help build new bridges and strengthen existing ties between aboriginal and other Canadian communities.

Chief Robert Joseph and John McCandless are leading a relationship-building workshop called Bright New Day Reconciliation Circle at the Salish Centre at Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation on March 14-15. They are part of Chief Robert Joseph and Associates, a North Vancouver educational firm which focuses on developing a culture of understanding.

“The more we get to know each other, the more we can appreciate each other’s values,” said McCandless. “When we begin to understand where each other is coming from, the less likely we are to want to damage the relationship.”

Joseph and McCandless developed the workshop after Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s 2008 apology for the government’s use of residential schools to assimilate aboriginal children and the lasting harm it caused which has rippled through generations.

“It was an incredible moment,” said McCandless, “but we realized that the apology wouldn’t lead too far if we couldn’t create a grassroots movement to meet it halfway.

Joseph and McCandless have been conducting reconciliation workshops across the province since 2009 for mixed audiences of both aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians. The Tla’amin reconciliation circle will be number eight for the pair.